Blood and Bourbon

15

If I had learned one thing in my time on the road with Damon, it was that he was entirely too attached to his car. It was a nice car, don't get me wrong, but if I so much as touched the radio he would bite my head off. I do love having the top down, though.
"Bella! Earth to Bella!" Damon snapped, pushing my shoulder.
" What, Damon?"
"If you're going to have your dirty boots on my dash, you could at least stay awake and keep me amused." I smiled, remembering when he finally let me win World War: Dashboard. I rolled my eyes behind my sunglasses. I couldn't help it. I was too busy basking in the sun streaming down to pay attention to the whiny man beside me.
"Bella!"
"I'm sorry," I wasn't, but I might as well give him this, since I did win the dash board thing. "I just can't get over the sun. A week ago I could've never dreamed of being a vampire and still getting to do this." The wind was whipping through my hair as we drove down the highway toward Virginia. Damon had spent the first day of our drive telling me all about the tiny town of Mystic Falls. Frankly, I didn't need to know most of it, but it seems like this might be the only town in the world that rivals Forks for the title of "most supernatural activity in one place."
Luckily, Damon didn't seem to be in any more of a hurry to get to Virginia than I was. We had made several stops along the way, to do just about anything. We'd seen beaches, nightclubs, historical landmarks, and even a couple national parks.
The car fell silent again for a few minutes. It was peaceful. Until Damon threw his head back with a dramatic groan, and I let out a small giggle in response.

Damon was still complaining when we got out of the car at a little motel surrounded by woods. "I call the shower!" I called over my shoulder when we walked into the little room styled to look like a log cabin. I was a little surprised to see the bed - the single bed - when I walked in, but I didn't let him see that. I hadn't had much time to process my heightened emotions since we'd been on the road. All I know is that, as I stand in the shower, letting the hot water run over me, is that I haven't ever been this happy, or this relaxed. Even when Damon was pounding on the door, swearing up and down that I'd use all the hot water, I couldn't find it in my heart to be mad.

After we got a pizza delivered for dinner, we decided to go for a walk in the woods. We were dodging branches and searching for a path, even though we knew there probably wouldn't be one this far into the woods, when I heard the sound of a deer not far away.
"Damon!" I called as he passed me, apparently not noticing that I had stopped in place.
"What're you doing, Bella?" He called back, holding a branch up over his head.
"I think I want to try animal blood." I sniffed at the air again. The deer was still close.
"Gross. Why?" He asked.
"I don't know. I guess because I was always planning on drinking animal before, with the Cullen's."
"Well don't let me stop you," he gestured toward the deer. "But don't think for a second that I'm joining you  for this weird experiment." He stepped back toward me, crossing his arms. With that I took off toward the deer, speeding through the braches like they weren't even there. Within seconds, I was launching into the buck, grabbing it's antlers and digging my fangs into it's neck.
I could still hear Damon laughing as I came across a break in the tree line. I had jumped off the deer as soon as the blood touched my tongue, and Damon couldn't seem to quit laughing about it.
"You should've seen your face!" He said, before launching into another set of giggles. Rolling my eyes, again, I poked my head around a tree to see a little river. River might be a strong word, this was little more than a stream, but it was a break from the hanging tree branches and that was more than I thought we'd find. I squealed with excitement and quickly asked Damon, "Wanna swim?"
" You wanna swim? In there?" He pointed to the river. "I'm not sure that it's possible to swim in that little thing."
"Oh what, are you scared?" I said, backing toward the water.
"Psht. Me. Scared? Who do you think I am?" He said, pulling off his shirt, exposing a chest I had never seen before, but that I could stare at for the rest of eternity. Now I was the one stopping. "What are you doing?"
"Oh, I thought I was the scared one. We're you planning on getting in there fully dressed?" I had been, actually.
"Of course not." I steeled myself. Turning away from him when he reached for his zipper. I stripped quickly and stepped into the river as fast as I could. "Hurry up!" I called over my shoulder, before dipping myself under the water.
I stayed under water, marveling in the ability to see every detail of the ecosystem under the surface. If only it was enough to distract me from the gorgeous man that I knew would be dipping into the water in nothing but boxer briefs - I saw them poking out of his bag our second night on the road- any second. I was too busy searching through my brain about a way to deal with this when I felt his arms come around my waist.
Well, I guess I don't have to wonder if he likes me, I thought, feeling the warmth of his lips press against the base of my neck.
"Damon," I leaned back against him, "what're you doing?"
"You don't have to pretend, B." He whispered into my ear. "You still talk in your sleep." Can vampires blush? Cause I'm definitely blushing.